LOCATION LITTLERED CAEstablished Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine, ferritic, mesic Xeric Haplohumults
TYPICAL PEDON: Littlered clay loam - on a northwest facing slope of 10 percent under ponderosa and sugar pine at 2,720 feet elevation. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise stated. When described on May 21, 1980, the soil was moist below 10 inches.)
Oi--1/2 inch to 0; litter of manzanita and pine.
A-- 0 to 10 inches; dark red (2.5YR 3/6) clay loam, dusky red (10R 3/4) moist; strong very fine granular structure; soft, friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; many very fine and fine and common medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; 5 percent cobbles (8-25cm) and 2 percent stones (25-35cm); neutral (pH 7.0); abrupt irregular boundary. (5 to 15 inches thick)
Bt--10 to 26 inches; yellowish red (5YR 5/6) clay loam, dark reddish brown (5YR 3/4) moist; weak fine granular structure; soft, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; common medium and few fine roots; many very fine interstitial pores; few thin clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; 5 percent cobbles (8-25cm) and 2 percent stones (25-35cm); mildly alkaline (pH 7.5);abrupt wavy boundary. (13 to 20 inches thick)
C--26 to 65 inches; strong brown (7.5YR 5/8) loam, strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) moist; weak, fine subangular blocky structure; soft, friable, sticky and slightly plastic; few medium roots; many very fine interstitial pores; many black (N 2/0) manganese stains on faces of peds and lining pores; 5 percent cobbles (8-25cm) and 2 percent stones (25-35cm); mildly alkaline (pH 7.5). (30 to 50 inches deep)
TYPE LOCATION: Mendocino County California; about 1,500 feet south and 600 feet west of the northeast corner of section 6, T.23 N., R.16 W., MDBM, Leggett quadrangle.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: Depth to bedrock is greater than 60 inches. Organic carbon content in the upper meter of soil averages 12 to 15 kg/m2. The mean annual soil temperature ranges from 53 to 57 degrees F. The soil between the depths of 6 and 16 inches is moist in all parts from November 1 to June 1 and is dry in all parts from July 15 to October 1 in most years. Cobble content ranges from 0 to 10 percent and stone content ranges from 0 to 5 percent throughout the profile.
The A horizon is 2.5YR 3/4, 3/6, 4/4; 5YR 4/3 or 4/4. Moist color is 2.5YR 3/4, 4/4; 10R 3/4 or 4/4. Clay content ranges from 27 to 35 percent. Reaction is slightly acid or neutral.
The Bt horizon is 5YR 5/4, 5/6 or 7.5YR 5/6. Moist color is 5YR 3/3, 3/4 or 7.5YR 4/4. It is clay loam or clay with a clay content of 35 to 45 percent. Base saturation ranges from 5 to 25 percent. Reaction is neutral or mildly alkaline.
The C horizon is 5YR 5/8; 7.5YR 5/6 or 5/8. Moist color is 5YR 4/6; 7.5YR 4/4 or 4/6. It is loam or clay loam with a clay content of 20 to 40 percent. Base saturation ranges from 10 to 25 percent. Reaction is neutral or mildly alkaline.
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Littlered soils occur on mountains. Slopes are 2 to 30 percent. Elevations are 2,000 to 4,100 feet. The soil formed in material weathered from ultrabasic intrusive rocks. The climate is subhumid with hot dry summers and cool moist winters. The mean annual precipitation on ranges from 60 to 70 inches with occasional snowfall. Mean January temperature is about 45 degrees F.; mean July temperature is about 66 degrees F., and the mean annual temperature is about 55 degrees F. The frost-free period is 150 to 250 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Casabonne, Dann, Hollowtree, Holohan, and Hiltabidel series. Casabonne, Hollowtree and Holohan soils formed from sandstone that surrounds the ultrabasic rocks from which Dann, Littlred and Hiltabidel soils were formed. Casabonne soils are fine-loamy my. Holohan and Hollowtree soils are loamy-skeletal. Dann soils are moderately deep and Hiltabidel soils are shallow to lithic contact.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; surface runoff under bare soil conditions is slow through rapid; moderate permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: This soil is used as wildlife habitat and as watershed. Vegetation consists of Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, incense cedar, tanoak, ceanothus and manzanita. Chemical characteristics, including an extremely low calcium to magnesium ratio restrict plant growth and influence species compositions.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Northern coastal California. The series is not extensive. MLRA 4.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES ESTABLISHED Mendocino County, California, Western Part, 1993.
REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - the zone from 0 to 10 inches (A)
Argillic horizon - the zone from 10 to 26 inches (Bt)
Mineralogy - Ferritic - 33 percent dithionite - citrate extractable Fe. Moderate amount of goethite, small amount of hematite NSSL #817283 5. Many areas of Littlered soils were mapped as Cornutt series in the Wildland Soils and Associated Vegetation of Mendocino County California, by the State Cooperative Soil Vegetation Survey 1947-1950.